i don't care if he's a racist. i care that he's a murderer.

>> more calls for the arrest of george zimmerman. he shot an unarmed black teenager to death. tonight his lawyer claims it was self-defense and claims that zimmerman has the injuries to prove it. good evening. i'm chris gordon. we begin with a developing story now. former vice president dick cheney is in intensive care tonight recovering from a heart transplant. nbc's mike viquera has the latest. >> reporter: after undergoing heart transplant surgery today. cheney has had a history of heart problems that includes five heart attacks, the last one in 2010 where he was treated at george washington university hospital. shortly after that last attack cheney received what's known as a left ventricular assist device to treat and stage heart failure. former vice president has been on the cardiac transplant list

for more than 20 months. cheney has been at the top of the list since last december. in a statement tonight the cheney family says though they, quote, do not know the identity of the donor, they will be forever grateful for his lifesaving gift. chris? >> thank you, mike, reporting the former vice president had his first heart attack at the age of 37. he is now 71. tonight the outrage is intensifying. another day of protests over the killing of an unarmed black teenager in florida. s hundreds gathered here, his lawyer says his client is a victim, too. >> no justice, no peace. >> reporter: at the wilson building in downtown dk hundreds rallied and called for an arrest in the shooting death of 17-year-old trayvon martin. >> trayvon will never be called a husband. he will never have the privilege of hearing a child call him

daddy. a life with so much promise snatched from us. >> reporter: the teen was shot and killed by it this man, george zimmerman, a enabled watch captain who confronted the teen last month. zimmerman says he fired in self-defense. sanford police declined to press charges. >> i just feel sorry for him, like he didn't do anything just walking down the street. he didn't have to -- if he shot him, he didn't have to use that. he could have just called the police. >> it's shocking this day and age a boy would be shot down for walking to the store. whatever your race, whatever your religion, this is just a tragedy. >> reporter: as protests are being held, the sanford police department is warning against vigilanteism, there was a bounty for zimmerman's arrest. zimmerman's attorney says he's aware of the public outcry and threats. he says zimmerman suffered a broken nose and an injury to the back of his head when he says

trayvon martin attacked him. >> i have advised him to stay out of the public as much as he can. i can't say as to where he is because i don't know. >> reporter: those statements unlikely to quell the thousands demanding the 28-year-old be char charged with murder. >> this could happen to anybody. i have a kid in this country who is 6 years old and i could be getting the same phone call. to me it's not about the black or white issue, it's more justice. >> darcy spencer, news 4. the national association of black journalists is reporting that the martin family is planning a civil lawsuit in connection with the case. the target will most likely be the homeowners association where zimmerman was a neighborhood watch captain. turning now to our weather, a gray day with drizzle. is heavier rain in the works? chuck bell is in storm center 4. chuck? yes, indeed. heavier rain is definitely on the radar now just down to our south and west. it's raining cats and dogs down in charlottesville right now. temperatures 55 drizzly degrees

here in washington but 64 in fredericksburg where the warmer air lies down to our south. we have the cool stable marine layer. light rain and drizzle on the western side of the metro now but showers and some stronger thunderstorms now. no severe weather but plenty of thunder and heavy raun to charlottesville. you folks in stafford, spotsylvania, be on the lookout. some late night rumbles of thunder. what about tomorrow and the rest of the week? that's coming up, chris. thank you, chuck. there is still no word on what sparked the deadliest fire in more than 60 years in west virginia's capital city. it happened early this morning killing eight people including six small children. neighbors say that the victims gathered at this house for a birthday party last night. alicia had just turned 26.

>> when you start thinking about young children and this is as bad as it gets. >> one survived the fire but remains on life support. charleston fire department found a smoke detector in the house but it was not working. now to decision 2012. another state goes to rick santorum. he easily won the louisiana primary over mitt romney. santorum was not in louisiana to celebrate, however. he was in wisconsin today. mitt romney took the weekend off the campaign trail. he still has a sizable lead in the delegate count. early voting is open. you can cast your ballots ahead of the april 3rd primaries as the gop presidential race continues expect to see some of the candidates in our area. mitt romney was in maryland this week.

they are expected to campaign there next week. still ahead, "the hunger games" have a huge opening day. was it enough to set a new record? stepping out of the storm center and onto the basketball court. how does he fare against the harlem globetrotters? and could you get all the and c[ male announcer ]he this was how my day began. got my bearings. ♪ a little bird told me about a band. ♪ an old man shared some fish stories.

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turns out moviegoers were hungry for "the hunger games." the film sold more than $68 million worth of tickets its first day in the u.s., a box office record for a nonsequel.

the popular book turned movie tells the story of teens forced to fight in a televised death match. well, the game of basketball kept our doug camera businey to. that's the storm center chief meteorologist against the harlem globetrotters. he gets his next layup, too. doug played along with the international elite team at the verizon center today. the globetrotters play tomorrow in fairfax at the patriots center. doug will be sitting out that game. i think he's happy about that. well, up next, could popping a pill give you the same payoff as

keeping your identity safe and protecting your environment, those are the goals of pnc bank community shred event. about 1,500 cars lined up at montgomery college in rockville. this was the largest shred event held in montgomery county. each person got up to four boxes of paper shredded for free. all the paper will be recycled. pnc bank and nbc 4 says thanks to everybody who participated. well, a miracle weight loss pill may be getting close to reality. a huge discovery that could one day give us those sought after benefits without hitting the gym. exercise works. >> reporter: which is exactly why so many people prefer to do this instead. so what if you could plop in front of the tv and still get the benefit of going to the gym? >> it sounds good, doesn't it?

>> reporter: good? how about fantastic! so is it possible? well, possibly according to recent research done at harvard. scientists say they pinpointed the hormone in muscle cells that triggers the benefit of exercise, a kind of chemical messeng messenger. sounds promising so far says temple university researcher dr. kevin john williams. >> the discovery of this hormone that's released from muscle during exercise is a major scientific breakthrough. >> reporter: named after the greek messenger goddess, researchers say the hormone has a powerful effect on white fat, that's the fat that gets stored as calories. according to the researchers when it is injected into mice, it turns on the genes that change white fat into so-called brown fat. brown fat is known to burn more calories. it's what happens naturally when we work out. >> when animals or people exercise, it releases the hormone and tells the fat to burn more calories.

>> reporter: so is it time to toss out the gym membership? not just yet. it won't mace muscles stronger. doctors don't know what side effects there could be. plus, dr. william stresses it's not easy to turn research into re reality. >> fat is very difficult. it's difficult to translate scientific discoveries, even important ones, into actual useful stuff that people can use on a day-to-day basis. >> well, tok tors say if you really want to lose weight naturally, get rid of sugary beverages and walk more. well, today with the drizzle wasn't really a day or night for a walk. >> you get double credit for exercising in the rain. if you run on a rainy day, you get to put double the miles down in the book out of fairness, you know, because you went out there and you did it. outside today, yuck.

that's about all i heard from anybody today. it sure is gloomy and gross outside. that's from people around the washington area. winchester southbound to harr harrisburg, you had almost 100% sunshine for most of the afternoon and temperatures way into the 70s. that was not the case here in washington. outside we were stuck in the clouds, in the mist, the fog, the drizzle and the rain all day and that continues here into your saturday night. it's misting steadily now in washington. not a whole lot of rain coming down. 55 our current temperature. temperature and dew point have come together so as a result we have 100% relative humidity. 55 the temperature. 55 the dew point. northeast wind now at 10 miles an hour. that east to northeasterly fetch, that marine layer right off the western side of the atlantic ocean and that is what has kept us cool and cloudy and overcast and misty all day long. where the sun broke out today had a good round of thunderstorms and some severe weather down to roanoke and

lynchburg. so mid-50s around town, alongside the bay. mid-60s, though, still down to the south. your sunday planner overnight showers, maybe a few rumbles of thunder. so kind of a wet start tomorrow. off and on showers with maybe a sliver or two of sunshine. and i think by the second half of the day tomorrow most of the rain will be done with us by 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 in the afternoon and things will dry out after that. just mis it t and drizzle, all mist and fog in washington. there are thunderstorms, though, still roaring across parts of central virginia along the virginia/north carolina border. the upper level low is way back out across central tennessee. out ahead of it the plume of moisture is running into all that lift. as thunderstorms come northbound into the cool, stable marine layer, they're dying out. thunderstorms might make it as

close as fredericksburg but i don't think we'll have to worry in washington. that cool stable heerema thanks to the ocean. here is our future cast model. they all fizzle out. at 9:00 in the morning, just a cloudy and showery start. event will that will allowing cooling, drying breezes in here for monday. monday looks on the blustery side but with sunshine. cloudy and wet passing showers, patchy fog. startoff temperatures in the 50s where we are right thousand. and then for your sunday, we'll call it a mostly cloudy day. i wouldn't be surprised to see a few breaks of sunshine here and there. clouds will rule the day tomorrow. one or two showers with a thundershower thrown in there for good measure but highs in the upper 60s and low 70s. then after the front goes by, chris, you'll notice and appreciate the change, cooler, drier air blows in monday. we'll call it chilly.

temperatures highs and lows below average. that alone is news. >> is this more of a challenge to forecast? i say that with a smile. >> break out the flip book in a few weeks. >> is this more typical springtime? >> 83 in march, that's not normal at all. >> no, but i didn't hear a lot of complaints on the golf course. >> you didn't talk to pollen sufferers. >> me one, i know what you're saying. thank you very much. thank y[ male announcer ] for the dreamers... and those well grounded. for what's around this corner... and the next. there's cash flow options from pnc. solutions to help businesses like yours accelerate receivables, manage payments, and help ensure access to credit.

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road to the final four. >> it did. do you have a rooting interest? >> i had syracuse, they lost. >> i have carolina/kentucky. am i alive? >> yes, so far. they didn't play tonight, john. okay, come on. >> i'm in. >> ohio state, i'm from ohio. >> okay. >> so i'm excited. >> you should be. number two beat number one. >> i'm a little excited. >> feel left out. >> don't feel left out. we'll get to you tomorrow when those two teams play. we'll have that tomorrow. tonight two teams punching their tickets to the final four in new orleans, but it wasn't easy. louisville rallies against florida and ohio state takes down syracuse. we start in boston, the buckeyes are the last team in the big ten still dancing tonight and here is something to cheer about. the first half ohio state with the ball. aaron can kraft breaking down the syracuse "d," the bucket and the foul for the super sophomore. out of finley, ohio. later the buckeyes not playing defense, up to c.j. fair. sweet play by the orange. that's more awesome than a

monkey wearing a tuxedo. game tied at 29 at the break. this is awesome, too. soldier off the glass. he scored a game high 19 points. ohio state knocks off syracuse 77-70. the buckeyes will play north carolina or kansas in the final four. to phoenix. coach billy donovan and the gators facing rick pitino and the cardinals. donovan played for pitino at providence. second half florida with the ball. check out patrick young. monster dunk. gators up by eight at this point. back comes louisville. out to russ smith, three-pointer good. he had 19 points off the bench. just over a minute to go, cards down one. shane bohannon gives louisville the lead. the cardinals end on a 23-8 run. louisville beats florida 72-68 advancing to the final four. oh, by the way pitino improves to 7-0 against donovan. nene and the wizards host the

hawks. third quarter jordan crawford up to nene. that was nice. he finished with a team high 21 points, 11 rebounds. the wizards led by as many as 16. final minute wizards' lead down to two. kirk behind rich to joe johnson for three. atlanta takes its first lead of the game with 46 seconds left. last chance for washington. they get it to john wall for the tie. john wall, can you be the hero? uh-uh, no good. he was 1-10 from the floor. in other words that's not good. the wizards lose. they're at boston tomorrow night. golf now, a victory on sunday for tiger woods would quiet the critics. but it would help. when tiger was tiger, no one doubted him because you really couldn't. 37-2 is his record. this weekend tiger roaring at bay hill. tiger trying to win on the pga tour for the first time since

2009, also going for his 72nd career pga tour victory. here on number 11. knocks down a birdie. pumped. trouble on 15, though. you know it's bad when tiger lets go of his club. hits it way out of bounds. into someone's backyard. good thing these folks were on vacation. no one is out sunbathing. he birdies at number 16. here on 18 how about another birdie. just misses. tiger would settle for par. shoots a 1 under 71. he's at 11 under for the tournament with a one-stroke lead over graeme mcdowell. final round coverage in the arnold palmer invitational begins tomorrow at 2:30. talking baseball, nationals general manager mike rizzo expects injured slugger michael morris to return on opening day or shortly thereafter. now the closer is questionable for opening day because of

soreness in his throwing arm. if he's not ready, henry rodriguez would step into the closer role. the mats taking on the orioles. the oriole bird here, has the moves like jagger, right? pr pretty good. no? maybe not. jackson with a two on and two out into shallow center and that gets town. wilson betemit scores. the throw from rick ankiel. he has a plus arm. dead at the plate. jones out by a mile there. bottom three. two on, two out. he gets all of this one. a three-run home run. he was a perfect 4-4 with six rbis. they crush the nats 12-0. washington 0-10-1 in their last 11 spring training games. ouch is right. maryland on the road at number 14 north carolina. less than a minute to play the game, things get ugly.

upper right side of your screen here kevin cooper with a crosscheck to the head of mcbride. take another look. it's cooper throwing a couple punches here. both players were ejected. they hand maryland its second loss of the season. ugly scene in chapel hill. one more note. a big game for the maryland women. tomorrow the terps play the defending national channmps tex a&m. tipoff is scheduled for noon. we'll be rooting for the terps tomorrow. and watching to see if tiger can close the deal at the arnold palmer invitational. chuck, thank you.

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